January 19 in history: childbirth on “I Love Lucy,” Indira Gandhi makes history, PGA drops all-white policy, “Dean scream” in Iowa, more

1847: For the first time ever, anesthesia is administered during childbirth. Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson administers ether to an unnamed patient with a deformed pelvis, an advance that will go on to save millions of women from heart-wrenching birthing pains.

Lucille Ball, a sign based on “the Dean scream,” Indira Gandhi, the hostages held by Iran for 444 days, and the original Blackberry.

1883: Roselle, N.J., becomes the first town to be fully lit with electricity, when Thomas Edison successfully completes an experiment involving 150 homes. 

1953: Comedian and TV star Lucille Ball gives birth on-air, after scheduling her C-section to coincide with the episode. It’s said that 68 percent of Americans watched the episode, a record at the time. Fictional baby boy Little Ricky and real-life baby Desi Arnaz Jr. weighed in at 8 pounds and 1 oz.

1955: The first-ever televised news conference takes place, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower fields questions from reporters for 37 minutes. 

1959: Virginia’s “Massive Resistance” laws that pushed for segregated schools are declared unconstitutional by both the U.S. Supreme Court and Virginia’s high court. The rulings ended a practice started by Virginia’s conservative Democratic governor and approved by its Legislature to steer state funds away from desegregated schools and toward those segregated by race, forcing many desegregated schools to close.

1961: The Professional Golf Association (PGA) lifts its white-only policy, challenged for 13 years by Black golfing stars Bill Spiller and Ted Rhodes. Retired boxer Joe Louis also had advocated for the change, after being refused entry to a San Diego golfing tournament in 1952.

1966: Indira Gandhi is elected India’s first-ever female head of government. She’d serve in the post for 11 years, and then again from 1980 to 1984, before being assassinated and is to this day the only female to lead India, a deeply patriarchal country.

1981: The Iran Hostage Crisis ends after 444 days, when President Jimmy Carter signs the Algiers Accords that enable the release of 52 American hostages the next day. Under the agreement, thousands of complains between Iran and the United States were resolved under a Tribunal in the Netherlands. In return, Iran released the 52 hostages first held when Iranian students stormed the American Embassy in objection to their ousted shah receiving medical treatment in America.

1990: More than 130 civilians in the country of Azerbaijan die when former Soviet Union head Mikhail Gorbachev, later credited with bringing democracy to the former republic, orders his troops to attack the country’s civilians with gunfire and bombs. Another 800+ people are injured, too, in what becomes known as Black Monday. The massacre was one of the last failed efforts of the former Soviet Union to stay in existence. Azerbaijan would become independent in August 1991, and the Soviet Union would officially collapse two years later

Howard Dean, Democratica presidential candidate in 2004, lets loose the infamous “Dean scream” after coming in third in the Iowa Caucuses.

1999: The modern-day smartphone era begins when BlackBerry hits the market, for the first time combining phone, text and email capabilities. The Canadien Blackberry captured 45 percent of the smartphone market before gradually losing its edge to the Apple iPhone.

2004: Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean becomes famous for the “Dean scream.” A day after coming in third in the Iowa Caucuses when he was predicted to win, Dean gave a speech in West Des Moines to a loud and supportive crowd that ended with a high-pitched scream that would be mocked for decades and blamed for ending his chances at the nomination.

2011: U.S. Senate Republicans (and three Democrats) vote to repeal Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), the health care network that allowed affordable coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and the self-employed. The move is voted down by the Democrat-controlled House. It turns out to be the first of dozens of Republican efforts over the years to end the ACA.

2022: Americans begin receiving free N95 masks and COVID tests from the U.S. government, as cases from the deadly virus hit 750,000 a day and deaths hit 2,000. The move followed recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to use N95 masks instead of standard surgical masks.